DSB Questions

[L8ndeb]

Hello All,

Just getting back into the hobby. When I was in, I had a DSB (5" - 6" ) with a plenum and Oolite sand.
My new tank is 36" tall. I have chosen, ordered and received CaribSea Aragamax Select as my substrate. Frankly, I thought the size would be a little bigger, as it is not much bigger than the sugar sized Oolite.
My questions are:

Are plenums still being used?
With that sized substrate, couldn't I go a little shallower with the sand depth and get nitrate reduction?
If so, what would be the recommended depth for sand that is 0.5 - 1.5 mm grain size (looks smaller)?

TIA

 

[Hal]

Plenums aren't used much these days. I can't remember the last person who said they had one.

I can't help you much on the sand bed depth. I've always heard 4-6 inches regardless of the size of the sand grains. I just installed a 4" DSB with Aragasnow sand (the smallest particle I could find).

 

[L8ndeb]

Thanks Hal for the response. Anybody else with any thoughts on this?

 

[cloak]

I'm not sure if you've seen this already, but there's a lot of good information reguarding deep sand beds in this link. HTH.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1652103&highlight=deep+sand+beds

 

[L8ndeb]

Cloak,

Thanks for the link. But 27 pages.....................looks like I have my homework assignment.